SUSANNE WENGER Exorcism rids people of evil and cleanses them of their inner demons, say those who believe in it. Even today, this spiritual practice still has a following. Vicar-General Christoph Casetti performed the role of exorcist in the diocese of Chur – until his death in 2020. Chur has now decided not to fill the vacant exorcist post, it was announced at the end of last year. “We are all human, with our own strengths and weaknesses,” Bishop of Chur Joseph Maria Bonnemain explained in an interview on Swiss radio. There were “normal ways to treat people in distress – medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic”, he added. There was no need to go looking for “occult causes”. Based in the cantonal capital of Grisons, Chur is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, one of Switzerland’s three official churches. Pope Francis appointed Bonnemain, 74, as Chur’s new bishop two years ago. Bonnemain is a trained physician who studied medicine before moving into the field of theology. During his time as a priest, he worked as a hospital chaplain in the canton of Zurich. Throughout his entire clerical career, he had never met anyone whom he thought required a major exorcism, he said in his radio interview. People with emotional, spiritual or psychological burdens needed “support, prayer or appropriate church services, but not necessarily an exorcism”. Holy water and crucifixes By abolishing the office of exorcist, the new bishop has discontinued a service for which Chur had been widely known. Commentators say the move is linked to tensions that have been bubbling for over 30 years between conservatives and reformers within the diocese. Two of Bonnemain’s predecessors, bishops Wolfgang Haas (1988 to 1997) and Vitus Huonder (2007 to 2019), were arch-conservatives and controversial figures. The current bishop is regarded as quite broad-minded and open to dialogue. It is thought that Chur diocese purges the exorcist Until a few years ago, the diocese of Chur had its own bona fide exorcist who purged the faithful of their supposed demons. The exorcist recently died – and now the controversial post will remain empty. People in emotional, spiritual or psychological distress should seek conventional therapies, says the diocese’s new bishop. Rome appointed him with the mandate of healing divisions among the almost 700,000 Catholics in the diocese, which comprises the Zurich area in addition to rural cantons. Exorcism, both “minor” and “major”, has a long tradition in the Catholic Church. Minor exorcism consists of prayers, while major exorcism is a Christoph Casetti († 2020) served in the diocese of Chur for a long time as “Switzerland’s bestknown exorcist”. He was the last-ever clergyman to hold the office of exorcist in Chur. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / March 2023 / No.2 10 Society
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